


Ceramic Hearts

by nightlight9



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - No Hale Fire, Art, Fluff, M/M, SO FLUFFY
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-17
Updated: 2016-04-17
Packaged: 2018-05-27 05:38:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6271909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightlight9/pseuds/nightlight9
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles is fascinated by Derek and wants to know more about him. One night after lacrosse practice, he finds Derek working in the ceramics room. Friendship and fluff ensues.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ceramic Hearts

He’s leaving lacrosse practice, half-listening to Scott talk about a new crush he has and half thinking about what he’s going to make for dinner, when he notices the black Camaro parked a few spaces away from his jeep. The sight is enough to give him pause.

“Stilinski, you coming or what?” Jackson calls back at him, pausing beside his car. A few years ago, being around the jock made Stiles’ head hurt. But when they realized that putting aside their differences meant winning lacrosse games, the animosity between them stopped. It helped that Stiles pulled Jackson aside and explained that he had no interest in Lydia whatsoever, aside from just being her friend. 

“I forgot something,” he replies, already heading back towards the school. Scott makes a questioning sound. “Don’t worry, buddy, I’ll meet up with you all when I’m done.” He doesn’t wait for a response, dashing back through the doors to the school. It’s always strange, being there when everyone else is gone. Typically, Stiles would take the time to pull a prank or fuck some shit up, but he came here on a mission.

Of course, he has to find the owner of the Camaro first, which by itself is a difficult task. Derek Hale is an enigma, and Stiles is nothing if not a detective. Something about the quiet senior caught his eye a few months ago, but despite trying to get close to him and figure him out, all Stiles knows is that he likes to read, has a loyal group of friends with very strong personalities, and has the cutest teeth to ever exist. He doesn’t play any sports, and he isn’t a part of the drama club like half the people he hangs around with. But something keeps him at the school late, and Stiles is determined to find out what.

After twenty minutes wandering around, that determination almost fails him. There are only so many places in the school, and he swears he’s checked all of them, and yet there’s no sign of Derek. Or anyone for that matter. When Stiles receives yet another text from Scott asking where he is, he decides he’s done stalking for the night and starts cutting through the art wing to get to the front of the school.

Of course, that’s when he finds Derek. One of the rooms is lit up, and it’s enough to peak Stiles’ curiosity. Derek is bent over a pottery wheel, his attention locked on the clay forming under his hands. Stiles is captivated. He’s never really had any interest in art and his attention span is too short for him to be any good at it, but watching Derek is like watching someone in love. His expression is relaxed, his eyes bright. It’s nearly too much for Stiles.

His phone buzzes in his pocket. When he looks up from Scott’s text, Derek is watching him, eyes wide. They stare at each other for a moment, frozen in place. But then Stiles slowly raises one hand in a wave, cheeks heating with nerves. Derek’s eyes widen more. He lifts a hand in return, ducking his head shyly. It breaks something in Stiles open and a grin spills itself across his expression. He waves a little wilder at Derek, then spins on his heel and wanders down the hall, typing out to Scott that yes, he was coming, chill. 

\----------

Stiles is sitting in second period, listening to Scott explain for the fourth time how beautiful Allison’s eyes are. That’s when he notices that Derek is watching him from the corner of the room. When their gazes lock, Derek looks away quickly. Stiles smiles softly at the display, and waves over at him. With pink checks, he waves back. Stiles wishes that he was sitting closer, wishes that he could touch his cheeks to see if they’re warm, wishes he could press his lips…

“Stiles?” He jolts back to look at Scott, who’s frowning. “Are you alright, dude? I said your name a few times and you didn’t hear me.”

He scrubs at the back of his head, glancing back at Derek who’s turned away. “Oh uh, yeah. Sorry, what’s up?”

His best friend sighs. “You should go talk to him, Stiles. The staring is a little weird.”

He flails back, scoffing. “How dare you, Scott. I am charming. The staring is charming. And one day I will woo him with it!”

“Or you could go and talk to him like a normal person.”

“Oh sure, because you’re doing such a great job of talking to Allison.”

Just the sound of her name is enough to make Scott smile softly and lose his argument in favor of waxing poetic about her eyelashes. Stiles sighs deeply and turns back to watch Derek. 

\----------

When practice lets out that afternoon, Stiles goes right from the locker rooms to the art wing, hoping that he can find Derek there. Sure enough the other boy is curled over the pottery wheel again, attention on his hands. As if he can feel Stiles’ stare, he looks up. When Derek sees who’s watching him, he smiles, raising a hand in greeting. Stiles’ jaw drops when the wave turns into Derek beckoning him into the room.

His feet stumble over the threshold and carry him to stand awkwardly beside Derek, whose small smile is ripping a hole in Stiles’ chest.

“Hi,” he says through his smile. 

Stiles blushes. “Hello, Derek.” He clears his throat. “Um, what are you doing? I mean, I can see that you’re working with clay, obviously, but what are you doing with it? Or, um, what are you making out of it?”

Derek huffs a small laugh. “It’s going to be a vase when it’s done.”

“Cool!” His voice sounds too loud, obnoxious. He winces. Derek doesn’t seem to mind though. He just gestures for the seat beside him. “You uh, don’t mind me watching?”

The older boy laughs, eyes gleaming. It makes Stiles wonder if he’s slowly turning into Scott, ready to write bad ballads and odes to all the colors in Derek’s eyes.

“I don’t mind, Stiles, the company will be nice.” As Derek turns back to the wheel, Stiles holds himself still, not even breathing loud enough to be a distraction. Derek stops again after a few minutes. “You can talk you know,” he says sounding fond. “You won’t distract me.”

Stiles exhales, relaxing back to watch him work. This time, when Derek begins forming the clay, Stiles asks questions. He asks about the process, about how it feels, about how long he’s been doing ceramics. Eventually the questions trail off into silence, but it is more companionable then it was before. Even though he knows that he should get home to make dinner and do his homework, he finds himself staying until Derek is ready to leave.

“Thank you,” he tells his companion as they leave the school, ducking his head to hide his blush. “For letting me stay.”

He lifts his head up in time to see Derek’s soft smile. “Thank you for coming by.” He stops beside the jeep instead of walking over to where his car waits. “Um, you’re welcome to come by again tomorrow. You know, if you want.”

Stiles breaks into a wide grin. “I’ll be there.”

\----------

They make it a habit. After lacrosse practice, Stiles joins Derek in the art room. Sometimes he’ll watch whatever Derek is doing, other times he’ll take out his homework. Then they’ll walk to their cars together. The relationship they have during school doesn’t really change, aside from the fact that they greet each other in the halls, and Stiles stops trying to be subtle about all the staring (Derek rolls his eyes whenever he catches him, and Stiles thinks it’s adorable).

A week after the first meeting, Stiles shows up at the art room to see Derek waiting for him with a devious expression. After getting to know the calm side of Derek’s personality, he’s instantly on alert. 

“Hey, buddy. Uh, what’s up?” Derek laughs. It sounds a little bit too much like his friend Erica’s cackle. “Holy cow, I forgot I left my coffee pot on this morning.”

Derek rolls his eyes. “You don’t even like coffee, Stiles.” And doesn’t he just swoon knowing that Derek remembered that little fact. “Get over here.”

Reluctantly, he does. Derek pushes him into the seat at the pottery wheel. “Oh no, you’re making a huge mistake, Derek! You’re the artist! I’m the athlete! Let us stick to our labels; it’s for the good of all!”

He rolls his eyes again. “You’re being dramatic. This isn’t even that hard. You’ll do just fine.”

And wasn’t he wrong. Stiles does not do ‘just fine.’ He ends up crumpling the cylinder Derek was trying to help him make, dropping some clay on the floor, and somehow covering them both with the clay water.

What he doesn’t tell Derek as they’re walking out of the school is that seeing Derek throw his head back in laughter was worth the mess.

\----------

“You should ask him out,” Scott says. They’re sitting on the couch at his house playing video games, so the conversation takes Stiles by surprise. His character dies. Scott pauses the game. “I’m serious, Stiles. Ask him out.”

“No can do, Scotty my boy.” He leans back into the cushions and rubs his eyes. “I can’t mess anything up.”

Scott snorts. “Please, like it would. He stares at you almost as much as you do him! Erica and Isaac came over to our lunch table yesterday and threatened you bodily harm if you hurt him! Cora shoved you into the locker and promised more than that! He likes you, Stiles!”

He sighs. “I just don’t want to mess it up. Scott, Derek deserves so much. I want to be able to give it to him.”

A lightbulb practically appears over Scott’s head. “So why don’t you? Make asking him out dramatic, something to remember.”

Stiles just shakes his head. “He won’t like dramatic. He’s not his friends. Derek is quiet and thoughtful and-.” Then it clicks. “Holy shit, Scott. I’ll make him something out of clay!”

Scott, ever the romantic, is on board immediately. He only sees one flaw in the plan. “Stiles, Derek’s always in the ceramics room though. How are you going to make something secret for him if he’s always there?”

He waves off the concern. “I’ll go during our free period. Derek has calculus then, so he’ll be in class. And then maybe the teacher will be around to help me.” A plan is formed.

\----------

It takes two weeks before Stiles manages to make something he deems worthy for Derek (much to the amusement of the teacher, who agreed to help as soon as Stiles mentioned what he was trying to do). The final project is a small coffee mug. Carved into the side are a pair of wolves (Derek’s favorite animals) howling up at the moon. Sure, the mug is a little lopsided, but he didn’t push his thumb through the side (he lost two previous versions because of that), and it actually looks pretty good. There’s another week of the mug glazing it and putting it into the kiln, and then it’s ready. 

 

Derek is where he always is when Stiles shows up, head bent over the wheel, concentration on his hands. Stiles takes a moment to stop and watch him through the window before he pushes into the classroom. Immediately, Derek pauses to smile at him.

“How was practice?” 

Stiles shrugs. “It went okay. Jackson was in a pissy mood, but when is he not.” He notices how Derek’s eyes drop to the wrapped package, and he expects him to bring it up, but Derek politely averts his eyes.

“Are you guys ready for the game this weekend?”

Stiles bats away the question. “We will be, I’m sure. I just can’t wait to see what speech Coach steals this time. So, what are you working on now?”

When Derek’s attention is back on the clay he’s working with, Stiles settles into his normal seat. He wants to wait until Derek is finished and clean up before he gives him the gift.

Because of that, watching as Derek washes up his work station and puts everything away feels like it takes years. Stiles keeps rolling back on his heels and playing with the zipper of his jacket while he watches.

“Ready to go,” he asks when Derek finally appears to be finished. The older man nods, shouldering his backpack. Before he can lead them out of the room though, Stiles puts the wrapped present into his hands. “This is for you.”

Derek’s nose scrunches together in confusion. “It isn’t my birthday,” he says. 

Stiles snorts. “Yeah, I know. It isn’t a birthday present.”

Carefully, Derek unwraps the gift. His eyes widen when he sees what’s inside. “Stiles,” he breathes, lifting the mug from the box. “Did you make this.”

He wants to snort and ask where he would have bought such a lopsided thing, but instead he nods. “I wanted to do something special for you, and I know that you like tea so I thought it would be perfect. Mrs. Lucas helped me with it a little, but I did everything else.”

Derek is looking at him with warm eyes and his smile is soft and fond. “I love it, thank you.”

He scratches at the back of his head, overwhelmed. “Um, there’s something else.”

“Go out with me?”

Stiles mouth falls open. “Uh, yeah, that’s what I was going to say. How did you know that?”

Derek laughs, setting the mug on the table then reaching forward to take one of Stiles’ hands. “No, I’m asking you. Go out with me?”

For a moment, all Stiles can do is stare at him. And then he collapses back into laughter of his own. “You ruined my question! I have everything planned out and-. Yes, I’ll go out with you, you dork.”

A pause, then: “So does this mean I get to wear one of your jersey’s to the game?”

Stiles walks into the door.


End file.
